Minden is a census-designated place (CDP) in Douglas County, Nevada, United States. The population was 3,001 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Douglas County and is adjacent to the town of Gardnerville. The Douglas campus of the Western Nevada College is located in Minden.
History
It was founded in 1906 by Heinrich Friedrich Dangberg Jr., who named it after the town of Minden, in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, which was near his father's birthplace. A large share of the first settlers were Germans. Minden was founded on company land of the Dangberg Home Ranch and Dangberg commissioned most of the town's early buildings. Minden has had a post office since 1906.
Minden sounds a "sundown siren" at 6pm almost every evening since 1917, originally signifying that members of the Washoe Indian tribe were required to leave town by 6:30pm or face jail or fine. Douglas County fully repealed its sundown ordinance in the mid-1970s. A Minden ordinance meant to clarify the siren's intent went on the books in 2007, but Minden continues to sound a siren every evening.
In June 2021, the State of Nevada passed a law that prohibits communities from sounding signals associated with a past law "which required persons of a particular race, ethnicity, ancestry, national origin or color to leave the town by a certain time." Minden Town Manager J. D. Frisbee claimed the law doesn't apply to them stating, “There’s a (Minden) ordinance in place right now that says that the siren sounds every day in commemoration of our first responders. … It never went off at 6:30, when the county had an ordinance to get Native Americans out of town.”
Geography
According to the United States Census Bureau, the census-designated place (CDP) of Minden has a total area of , of which is land and (0.5%) is water.
The Carson Valley and Minden are considered one of the top gliding spots in the world. Flights of over have been made on sailplanes from this location. Its location, east of the Sierra Nevada range, favors lee wave formation. East of the Pine Nuts mountains is the Nevada desert, one of the best thermal generators in the world.
U.S. Highway 395 runs through Minden. It is also the terminus of State Route 88, which becomes California State Route 88 on the west side of the state line.
Climate
Minden has a cool semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with huge diurnal temperature variations during all seasons. Summers are hot to very hot during the day, with 45.3 afternoons topping and 2.4 afternoons getting over ; however, mornings even in summer are very cool to cold and between June and August two mornings will fall on average to under freezing. Rainfall is very rare during the summer as the monsoon practically never reaches this far north: in July more than four years in ten record no measurable precipitation and only one in twenty expects . Winter afternoons are cool and frequently sunny, but mornings are freezing to frigid. Temperatures of or below can be expected on four mornings each winter, although all but seven afternoons each year can be expected to top freezing, whilst during the three winter months 41 afternoons will typically top . The hottest temperature on record is on July 6, 2007 and the coldest is , which occurred on January 21, 1916, January 26, 1949 and February 7, 1989. The coldest afternoon was on January 9, 1937 when the temperature did not top and the hottest minimum on August 28 and 29, 1906, June 25, 1927 and August 20, 1931.
The majority of precipitation occurs from winter Pacific storm systems, although the Sierra Nevada rain shadow limits the precipitation they produce in Nevada. The wettest “rain year” has been from July 1937 to June 1938 with and the driest from July 1959 to June 1960 with . The wettest day on record has been December 30, 2002 with , whilst with at least , December 2002 was also the wettest single month on record. Winter afternoons are warm enough in Minden that most precipitation occurs as rain, although the mean snowfall is and the median . The cold, wet month of January 1916, however, saw as much as of snow and the season from July 1908 to June 1909, ; however, no measurable snow fell between July 1962 and June 1963.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 2,836 people, 1,166 households, and 839 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 664.2 people per square mile (256.4/km2). There were 1,231 housing units at an average density of 288.3 per square mile (111.3/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 94.0% White, 0.1% African American, 0.7% Native American, 1.1% Asian, 0.1% Pacific Islander, 2.1% from other races, and 1.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 6.6% of the population.
There were 1,166 households, out of which 28.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 62.4% were married couples living together, 7.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.0% were non-families. 23.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.38 and the average family size was 2.78.
In the CDP the population was spread out, with 21.9% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 22.7% from 25 to 44, 27.5% from 45 to 64, and 23.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.4 males.
The median income for a household in the CDP was $56,795, and the median income for a family was $64,375. Males had a median income of $40,833 versus $34,700 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $30,405. About 3.7% of families and 5.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 10.2% of those under age 18 and 1.5% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Minden has a public library, a branch of the Douglas County Public Library.
Media
Carson Valley Times
The Record-Courier
In popular culture
Scenes from the films Chicken Every Sunday (1949), The Wizard (1989) and Charley Varrick (1973), were shot in Minden. Scenes for The Wizard (1989) were filmed in the historic Minden Inn, which was disguised as a bus depot during the filming, and on Esmeralda Avenue, which can be seen when Beau Bridges throws a shovel into the street while chasing a car.
Notable people
Donald E. Bently – businessman; long term resident of Mindenol in Minden
Shawn Estes – baseball player; attended high school in Minden
Nicholas Furlong – songwriter and producer
Howard D. McKibben – Federal Judge; practiced law in Minden from 1967 to 1971.
David Derek Stacton – author; born in Minden
Eric Whitacre – composer; attended high school in Minden
